The Colossian Forum Subscription Form

In order to be able to resume this form later, please enter your email and choose a password.

Your Email:

A Password:

Confirm Password:

Subscriber Information

First Name

Last Name

Email

Postal Code (US: Zip Code)

Phone

How did you hear about The Colossian Forum?

If other, please describe

Subscriptions

Please select the publications you'd like to receive:

The Colossian Way – Eager to learn more about The Colossian Way experience and how it could benefit you, your church, or your faith community? Please provide your phone number (above) to receive information and to be contacted by our team. Quarterly Newsletter – Be encouraged and equipped as you navigate faithfulness in a post-Christian culture. Our newsletter invites introspection, fuels discussion, and shares innovations. Monthly Prayer Letter – Stay in touch with TCF President, Michael Gulker, as he wrestles with the gospel reality of how our deepest conflicts can become the occasion for spiritual growth and witness. Blog – A new conversation for turbulent times. Stay in touch with the surprising ways Christians are engaging current cultural polarizations to grow in their love for God and others.Events - Be the first to hear about the gatherings we're hosting, welcoming you into rich conversation with a growing community of Christians.

Resources

The Colossian Forum offers free resources to help you transform polarizing cultural conflicts into opportunities for spiritual growth and witness.

Please select the free resources you would like to receive from The Colossian Forum:

Colossian Blog

When I first joined The Colossian Forum, I encountered the notion that conversation is a good thing, something to be sought and nurtured. But why exactly is conversation good? I let this question simmer on the backburner for a while, taking as a provisional answer that conversation is good because I always have something to learn from others. This is undoubtedly true. I have limited vision; my perspective is distorted; my tiny breadth of experience can’t begin to touch the limitless expanse of reality. By talking with others—even others who have their own limitations and distortions—I can compensate to some degree for my own limitations, because others have insights where I have blind spots. We complement one another. Surely this is true. There is no one from whom I cannot learn. But somehow this rings a little hollow. Isn’t it rather ego-centric? Are the words of others only of value insofar as they help me? Are other people only tools for my own self-improvement? Back in 2010, I attended a lecture by William Tecumseh Fitch on the development of language. The lecture did not focus on the history of the variety of languages, where they came from, why they differ, and so on. Rather, he spoke about the question of language itself. What is it about humans that makes us talkers? Fitch examined the physical requirements of speech, accompanied by entertaining references to talking parrots and Hoover the seal, who spoke with a heavy New England accent. Fitch talked about the necessary grey matter for forming words—and, on the other side, for hearing and understanding the words of others. There is also a necessary depth of social interconnections for the development of shared language. In none of this do humans stick out as uniquely suited for developing language. So what is it about humans that makes us so peculiarly talkative? Fitch pointed to one peculiar trait of humans, which he could only express in German: Mitteilungsbedürfnis. We have a driving need, deep within our being, as irresistible to us as our basic bodily requirements, to express ourselves. We are driven to pour ourselves out to others in words. I remember when our eldest daughter was a year and a half old. She had a remarkable capacity for baby signing. I must admit this whole thing was uncanny for me: the very idea that children have things to say before their mouths and tongues can form the words! When our daughter had a vocabulary of some 20 words or so, she would pore over a picture book, searching with focused passion, scrutinizing each page. She was looking for something, anything, that she could say with one of her signs. Finally she’d find it: an apple, a dog, water, or a baby, and she’d look up at us, make the appropriate sign and say, “Dah!” What a smile and gleam in her eye! She had a driving urge to connect with us and the combination of a “word” and a picture did the job. She was thrilled by the confirmation that she had communicated something from her mind to ours. Mitteilungsbedürfnis. The need to say something that is understood by another. So maybe there’s a value to listening that has nothing to do with learning something. Maybe it is good to listen simply because people need to talk. We all need to connect with other human beings. We need to know, even if only for brief moments, that our being is aligned with another’s. There are things deep within us, not necessarily profound in and of themselves, that we need other people to truly hear. I wonder if this has something to do with the mystery of prayer. After all, why would God listen to us if he already knows what we want, what we’re going to say before we say it (cf. Psalm 139:4)? Maybe the invitation to prayer is God giving us permission to speak with the promise that he will listen. Even if he already knows, we still need to say it. The work of The Colossian Forum centers on developing our capacity to discuss difficult things. I’m finding it is much easier for most people to talk than to listen. Talking comes pretty naturally and maybe it is as necessary for us as breathing. But what’s the point of talking if nobody is really listening? If we’re willing to listen to others we might very well learn something, maybe some very profound somethings. But even if we don’t, I think it might be worthwhile to listen nonetheless. We love strangers because they are people like us, people who need to be heard.

If I were invited to participate in a formal ecumenical dialogue, a big part of me would start scrambling for an excuse not to go. What could be more bland and disheartening than trying to eke out a sliver of unity from a group of disagreeing (and possibly disagreeable) Christians? So when Matthew Lundberg mentioned to me that he has been surprisingly enriched and challenged by his work with the National Council of Churches, I wanted to know more. Like me, Matt worried that the world of ecumenical dialogue might be filled with “watered-down Christianity where orthodox doctrine is cast aside in favor of left-leaning political advocacy.” After all, if we focus on what we have in common, we might well be left with a mere hollowed-out shell around some vacuous Jesus-concept. Surely there is nothing to be gained and much to lose! It would be easy to think the same of The Colossian Forum. Imagine a young-earth creationist and an evolutionary creationist talking to one another with respect. What could they possibly say to each other without getting angry and stomping out of the room? Is there anything beyond “let’s just agree to disagree”? As it turns out, a conversation marked by love and hospitality is far from empty. In the same vein, Matt found something surprising at the NCC: “robust, meaningful theological conversation in which historic Christian orthodoxy is highly valued and contributions from particular confessional traditions are taken seriously because of, rather than in spite of, their distinctiveness.” Matt even found it a gift to have his own views “critiqued probingly by folks whose theological vision is tuned to a slightly different frequency than mine, yet who have also invariably treated my own theological perspective with respect, appreciation, and grace.” But as with our forums, Matt was enriched by more than the exchange of ideas. He found shared, robust worship and new (and surprising) friendships to be much more than fringe benefits. So now I’m wondering: how I can get invited to one of these things? Read Matt’s full article. Matthew Lundberg is Associate Professor of Religion at Calvin College. Rob Barrett is the Director of Fellows and Forums at The Colossian Forum.